Rental properties need to meet minimum requirements to ensure they're healthy places to live.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is the government agency responsible to deal with rental properties that don't meet the healthy home standards.
We support MBIE encouraging and enforcing compliance with the standards. This service is part of our Housing Action Plan 2023-2025.
Information for tenants
Reporting your rental
You can report any mould or damp in your rental property to the Council.
We're focussing on mould and damp issues in a home as they can be a sign of a range of issues that may need addressing, such as lack of insulation or ventilation.
Our team will inspect the property and give you advice. If required, we'll refer your property to MBIE’s Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team for follow up and enforcement action.
If you want to report that your rental home is mouldy or damp, email publichealthenquiries@wcc.govt.nz and include a description of the issue and your contact details.
We’ll reply to your email within 2 working days and will let you know what the next steps are.
Inspections
If we need to inspect your place, this will take between 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size and the condition of the property.
This inspection is free of charge.
How we use your information
Our officers will use the information collected to assess whether your rental home has unacceptable levels of damp or mould and recommend the best course of action to achieve a positive outcome for you as a renter.
We may share your contact details and information about your rental home with MBIE, if we consider that there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Both the Council and MBIE will look after this information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
We won’t notify your landlord if you refer your rental home to us, or if we undertake an inspection.
Following an inspection, we’ll discuss options with you. If we recommend that we refer your rental home to MBIE, we’ll check that you're comfortable for us to do so. If MBIE decides that action is needed, an MBIE officer will get in touch with your landlord at that stage.
Your landlord can legally request any information that the Council holds in relation to their property. The Council can consider whether there are reasons to withhold the information, including to protect privacy and information supplied in confidence. If your landlord requests information about your rented home, we'll talk with you before we decide whether we wish to give information to the landlord about the Council’s rental inspection or not.
Information for landlords
If the Council refers your rental property to MBIE’s Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team and they decide action is needed, they will contact you.
If MBIE decides to take action, this could include: a formal warning, enforceable undertaking (voluntary legal agreement), improvement notice and/or an infringement notice (fine).
In serious cases, MBIE may decide to take proceedings against a landlord in the Tenancy Tribunal.
Contact us
If you have any questions, email publichealthenquiries@wcc.govt.nz.